This week in Social Studies we will begin looking at the history of the Western Hemisphere ancient civilizations and connect how their culture shaped our world today.  We will also connect human geography and aspects of physical geography that was taught in Quarter 1.

This week in Social Studies we will begin talking about Universals of Culture which will begin to connect physical geography with human geography.  We will begin by understanding what each universal of culture represents. Together we will explore a country using the universals of culture and talk about how the physical geography plays a part in the human culture.  The next step students will choose a country of their choice and then research the culture and create a poster to represent their country.  We will then have a gallery walk so everyone can share their countries universals of culture. 

The students will take all of the knowledge that they have learned about geography and then apply it to the different regions in the Western Hemisphere.  They will collaboratively work with their table group peers to become experts on the regions. From there we will discuss how the physically geography of the Western Hemispheres contributes to human geography and compare them among the different regions. 

The students are working on a Five Themes of Geography project.  They were to choose a city of their choice and then research the five themes: place, region, location, movement and human environment interactions on how they pertain to their city.  After the research the students are creating a brochure showcasing their city.  We will finish out the week reflecting on Geography by using the Depth and Complexity concepts, Disciplines of Language, Details and Big Ideas. 

This week the focus will be on the Five Themes of Geography: location, region, place, human environment interaction, and movement. 

 

We will start by looking at the skill of Big Ideas from Depth and Complexity.  Questions that we will be focusing on are, "What overarching statement best describes what is being studied?  How do these ideas relate to broad concepts?"

 

We will introduce the Five Themes of Geography and start exploring as a whole group how do the themes apply to a specific place.  The next step will be to take the learned information and apply this to a specific place of their choice by completing a Five Themes of Geography project. 

The students had a great time last Thursday and Friday practicing latitude and longitude playing Battleship.  

This week we will focus on landforms and different locations affect geography while continuing to focus on the Detail of Depth and Complexity. 

 

 

The focus this week for Geography will be map skills:

- Elements of a Map

- Latitude and Longitude

- Hemispheres

- the difference between a map and a globe

 

We will be learning and focusing on the Depth and Complexity skill, Big Idea. 

Students will think about how physical geography can affect a culture. 

This week we will be focusing on Geography.  The students will learn the difference between physical and human geography.  We will spend time looking at components of map as well as different types of maps.  In order to encourage deeper thinking, we will be using depth and complexity strategies which will also be introduced this week so that the students have an understanding or each icon. 

Welcome to 6th grade Social Studies!

 

There are four parts to the 6th grade curriculum based on the Colorado State standards!

- Geography

- History

- Economics

- Civics

 

We will start out the year looking at Geography and the students will be introduced to a project where they will create their own space.  This is a preassessment of what they know about geography.  

 

Next, we will move into the physical geography skills and explore maps and all the components.